Bailout Bill “Only MOSTLY Dead”

—WCN Warning: Economic/Terrorist event possible—

Despite the massive outcry from constituents that demanded their elected officials vote against yesterday’s $700B Wall Street bailout, observers and some marching-in-lockstep lawmakers are saying, to quote Billy Crystal’s character from The Princess Bride, “Miracle Max,” the bill is only “mostly dead.” In other words, there may still be a way for Congress to circumvent the wishes of the American People and pass a bill that gives Wall Street liars and gamblers a “do-over,” paying for their gambling bill and making them whole.

If only I would have had access to that kind of bailout the last time I went to Vegas.

Washington, DC needs to hear this: The American People don’t want to send the message that it’s OK to bail out thieves and gamblers.

Sure, there will be hardship. That’s a consequence of cutting corners and looking to “get something for nothing.” What many on Wall Street are seeking to avoid is not only the harsh reality of paying the bill on a bad investment, but also jail time. And there WILL be jail time. The hardship must come, if we truly want to cleanse our economy of this problem. What those responsible for the fiasco caused by OTC derivatives and toxic debt repackaging really fear is the outrage the hardship will create. Outrage that will inspire investigations, trials and prison time.

It will be tough, but it’s necessary.

“Economic Catastrophe” What might happen

—WCN Warning: Economic/Terrorist event possible—

As we wait for the markets to open (in about 40 minutes from this writing), many readers of WCN are asking “what will happen if the economy ‘melts down?’”

That’s a good question. The answer to which brought a chilling silence to the assembled Congressional leaders when Bernanke and Paulson briefed them several days ago, pleading for the adoption of the $700B bailout plan.

In short, the result could very well be the end of the United States of America as a viable economic entity. To be blunt and even shorter: Chaos.

The United States is an economic system that depends on a lot of moving parts working together in complicated subsystems. Money must flow, in the form of credit, trucks must roll, supplying a long supply line of commerce that stretches from the manufacturer of millions of products all the way to the checkout stand, and people must go to work so they can earn paychecks that go into bank accounts so all of this can be paid for.

If there’s no money to buy loads of plastic, made-in-China stuff at Wal-Mart, there are no jobs for the Wal-Mart checkers, with no money going into THEIR checking accounts, etc. If money can’t flow to pay for fuel, big trucks pulling semi-trailers can roll into your local Safeway to deliver the food that you use YOUR bank credits to buy and take home. Without those trucks rolling, there’s nothing on the shelves of that Safeway.

Chaos.

If you were watching CNN or Fox News over the weekend, you may be wondering why all of these professional, usually cool-under-fire politicians were on camera clearly shaken, unsure and in my estimation, on a couple of occasions, almost ready to cry. They were staring into the abyss, know that even if they passed a bailout package, there was no guarantee that it would save them from the plunge along with the rest of us.

And it was interesting seeing them so shaken. It is absolutely critical that you realize these people who pretend to serve us in Washington, DC have created a system that almost totally insulates them from the challenges we “unwashed masses” face in our lives. From health care to a retirement system that is completely detached from our Social Security system. Their system is well-funded and not, as ours is, bankrupt. To see these people, who by the way created this crisis, sweating it along with the rest of this, is interesting.

—Update—
Here we go…Down +100 9:34am…

Down 300+ 10:45am…

Warning

—WCN Warning: Economic/Terrorist event possible—

Three important posts from the Northeast Intelligence Network

Our current economic crisis: Could part be a terror attack on U.S. financials?

Analyzing patterns and pre-attack indicators

More in financial terrorism possibilities

Though other indications have come our way, these three posts from NIN are very clear, concise and paint the most complete picture of any website available.

Information has come to WCN from the most reliable sources that U.S. officials are taking very seriously the possibility of “severe disruptions” in the next two weeks, centered on October 7. It’s also very interesting and troubling that the “web bot project” from this group is suggesting that their predictive linguistic data gathering is suggesting a potentially massive and important event near that same date.

This is a time when our economy is at its most vulnerable. I believe this is all very real.

Be safe and be prepared.

This is a developing story that WCN will continue to follow.

Fighting our way out of the credit crunch

We’re at a critical juncture in our history. The American economy has been built on credit, truly huge amounts of credit, and the problem is the American people have stopped seeing the credit they spend as wealth and real money. Las Vegas uses chips as money in casinos, not just because it’s safer or simpler, but because they know the psychology of gambling. A player will find it much easier to put a black chip at risk than a one hundred dollar bill. A blackjack table wouldn’t see nearly as much business if vacation gamblers had to open their wallets and put their hard-earned cash on the table.

Credit cards are the same thing. How often have you made purchases on your credit card (or your debit card for that matter) that you never would have forked over cash for? I’ve done it, and in my advancing years I’ve become pretty conservative. The cliche that we’ve been using our homes as ATMs for the past several years is perfectly accurate. We’ve been spending money we didn’t have, profits we hadn’t realized that banks, mortgage brokers and other financial services entities called “equity.” We’re waking up with a huge financial hangover after many years of binge spending.

Congress is debating how to solve the problem. In truth, they’re debating how best to spin a “solution” to the American people that will make them look clean and faultless in the situation. It’s all politics. What our “leaders” do on Capitol Hill doesn’t, in the long run, mean anything. The problem is well beyond anything they can do to solve it. The vast majority of them don’t even understand it. The only important person inside the Beltway that I can confidently say understands what’s going on is Ron Paul, but he’s been so marginalized by the media, he’s out of sight. That’s a shame of historical enormity, because Dr. Paul gets it. The American people will never realize what our two parties have cost us by spinning Ron Paul into the media wilderness, and I feel sad about that.

There is no solution that Congress and the great mass of Americans will accept, because a true, cleansing solution will be economically painful and will mean a dramatic reduction in our standard of living. There’s no room for that in the “American Dream.” But the American Dream is just that, a dream. It is time to wake up, because the sun is coming up and the new day is starting, even though dark clouds threaten. Many Americans will find waking so disorienting and painful, they’ll try to convince themselves they’re still asleep, and will refuse to face reality. They’ll try hard to maintain their standard of living, but it will be impossible. Faced with an angry populace, our leaders will do whatever they can to keep this false, plastic dream alive. They’ve actually gotten quite good at this over the past couple decades, but they’re having to get more and more dramatic in their “solutions.” It’s getting out of hand, and will escape their control very soon.

At that time, I fear our Government’s only option will be military action to distract the American people from the truth of our economic situation. American forces exchanged fire with Pakistani troops today, and that’s a problem, because they’re supposedly our allies. They’re also a nuclear power. I think what’s happening, is that the Bush administration is pushing really, really hard for some resolution to the bin Laden situation, and telling Pakistan that it’s time to give him up. They don’t want to do that, but George Bush doesn’t want to leave office with bin Laden still free. He wants the image of the man who masterminded 9/11 paraded through the streets of New York in chains to be his lasting legacy. Maybe then, he must figure, will people forget about all the failed policies, corruption and incompetence that marked his administration. But, the Pakistanis won’t go down so easy, especially possessing nukes. It could get very, very ugly, very, very quickly.

The President of Iran in the U.S.

A fascinating interview online with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is online at NPR.org. Listening to it on All Things Considered this morning, I was again amazed at the Amero-centric worldview we have in the U.S. Steve Inskeep did a wonderful job verbally combating Ahmadinejad, who according to Inskeep, never stopped smiling, but I have to admit, I agree with Ahmadinejad when he asks “Why do you assume that your system is better than everybody else’s?”

I would love to simply call the Iranian President a modern-day Hitler, but can’t. He’s no dummy. He’s very intelligent, and despite staying calm as Inskeep called him to task about everything from his alleged desire to “wipe Israel off the map” to, if I heard correctly, charges he was one of the students who took American hostages in the 70s. He responded to it all calmly and intelligently.

But what made the biggest impression on my was his question to Inskeep, when asked about the Iranian system’s freedom of expression and freedom to run for office even if you don’t agree with the Mullahs. Ahmadinejad responded “I ask you, can anyone in fact become a president without the support of either of the two parties here in the United States?”

Oooh. Good point.

I don’t know, ask Ron Paul.

Don’t you just hate it when they do that? You’re in the middle of a perfectly good finger-pointing attack and the guy turns it around by holding up a mirror?

I only hope when Inskeep saw his reflection he was wearing a nicer jacket than the Iranian President was.